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Black officials, clergy rally round Tyrone Brooks

GABEO president Tyrone Brooks, at left, a state representative from Atlanta, chats with state Rep. Al Williams of Midway on Saturday. (Photo by Carl Elmore)

The Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials is holding its annual summer conference at Savannah State University. About 40 people attended a luncheon Saturday honoring civil rights leader the Rev. C.T. Vivian. (Photo by Carl Elmore)

At the news conference Thursday in advance of this weekend’s Georgia Association of Black Elected officials’ summer convention, embattled State Rep. Tyrone Brooks of Atlanta went out of his way to say that he didn’t want his recent legal troubles to permeate the convention.

“I didn’t want this to be about me,” Brooks, the president of GABEO and a longtime figure in the American civil rights movement, said Saturday just before GABEO’s awards luncheon honoring civil rights icon the Rev. C.T. Vivian and other civil rights veterans at Savannah State University.

No chance of that.

The luncheon, attended by about 50 black elected officials, clergy and civil rights advocates, turned into a veritable parade of solidarity and support for Brooks.

The 67-year-old state legislator, who pleaded not guilty in late May to 30 counts of mail, wire and tax fraud brought by the U.S. Justice Department, maintains he is guilty of nothing more than some bad bookkeeping.

The federal indictment charges that Brooks created a personal bank account to siphon off about $300,000 in donations to the GABEO that were to finance programs to fight child hunger, rehabilitate felons and organize voter registration drives.

The first order of business at the luncheon was a motion by GABEO vice president Elaine Huckabee Lucas for a resolution of support for Brooks.

“We stand here today united in our support for our president,” Lucas said of Brooks, who has headed the GABEO since 1993. “He is presumed innocent ... against these outlandish and untrue statements.”

The resolution passed unanimously. But the assembled were just getting warmed up.

Charles Steele, president emeritus of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, accepted the GABEO’s President’s Award on behalf of the absent Vivian and then launched into a vigorous defense of his longtime friend.

“I’ve known Tyrone for 30 years, and he’s always been there for the people,” Steele said. “Now there’s a mean spirit that’s blowing in the wind. We need to rally around Tyrone.”

The Rev. Samuel Mostellar, president of the Georgia chapter of the SCLC, said two very different systems of justice remain in America — one for whites and one for blacks and other minorities.

“Tyrone Brooks opened a lot of doors for us,” Mostellar said. “I was one of those who was able to walk through the doors opened by Dr. (Martin Luther) King and Tyrone Brooks. If Tyrone Brooks is taken out of the equation, the rest of us are going to be a sorry lot.”